


Frost

by Pita Pan (Lizlow)



Category: Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 16:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16287785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizlow/pseuds/Pita%20Pan
Summary: Now, he’s so nervous, so caught in the moment of her small glance to him, taking in that really cute smile, that he can hardly hear his friends teasing him. Stuck right there in time, it’s not really surprising, is it? He’s got it bad, really bad.“Oi, Taira!”She’s really sweet… And cute… She does her best… fate’s let us be in the same class again… This year, I…“Tai~ra!”





	Frost

**Author's Note:**

> Taira's personally a favorite of mine - he's so sweet! This was from a month ago, but here I am, slamming stuff here later than when I get it done elsewhere laughs

He doesn’t try to stand out, that doesn’t suit him, he thinks. He’s so, so average, painfully so, a plain, old rock in comparison to the gems that also happen to attend Habataki Gakuen. But that’s all right.

Taira doesn’t mind it. It fits him better, like a glove.

Perhaps it makes it so he lives rather numbly, simply floating by, frozen in place, not trying to thaw in order to race ahead of the game. But why is that on his mind now? Is it because he’s… he’s had a chance to slowly get closer to the one that shines the brightest in this school? Is it because slowly, slowly his insistence on stasis is defrosting?

Now, he’s so nervous, so caught in the moment of her small glance to him, taking in that really cute smile, that he can hardly hear his friends teasing him. Stuck right there in time, it’s not really surprising, is it? He’s got it bad, really bad. 

“Oi, Taira!”

_ She’s really sweet… And cute… She does her best… fate’s let us be in the same class again… This year, I… _

“Tai~ra!”

_ I wonder if she actually remembers me… Even if she didn’t, she still talked to me again… I missed my chance at the school trip last year… we’re close to graduation… but Christmas… _

“Taira! What if Osako-chan asks for you?”

“Hmm, I think Osako-chan’s shouts are the only things that get through to dream-mode Taira though. Bet I know who he’s thinking about too.”

“His eyes are  _locked_  on her, it’d be hard to miss it.”

Taira finds his classmates are speaking too quickly for him to interject, and it’s really embarrassing too, so he shuts his mouth and tries hopefully get the conversation to change that way. It really doesn’t work, however, but it’s not like that  _really_  ends up mattering. He blinks once, noticing that she again, is looking his way, giving him a small wave. Is that a laugh escaping her lips? Oh, this is bad… he really, really…

Only when he notices that she’s talking to Fujiyama — no, that’s wrong! Really, it’s when Osako asks him to carry something. Just as his friends expected, but it suits him. The average kid, doing exactly as the typical student would: Helping his homeroom teacher with the handouts. He’s not a shining star, like him, like some of his classmates, like some of the other students… like  _her_.

The fact she even noticed him on their first day, the fact that she kept approaching him, the fact that all these coincidences lined up and they got to experience high school, together (in a way) really has been amazing. He’s lucky, in that sense, that he’s even gotten that much. The fact that he almost got to hold her hand for the folk dance, every year, only to be cut off by bad luck and a familiar yell…  _so close…_

Still, this hasn’t been a bad high school experience. He’s had fun. He really has. Taira wonders, could it be because his heart has been lifted?

_Whoops_ , can’t delay anymore! He doesn’t want to happy mood of the classroom to freeze over.

As he moves, he can almost hear her voice say,  _‘Do your best!_ ’

Is it really directed toward him?

* * *

He wraps his scarf around his neck, debating if he should wait and see if he can catch her walking home. Of course, if she’s with Hanatsubaki or Ugajin, or the Sakurai brothers, or even Fujiyama, then… then he’ll hurry right off. He doesn’t wish to bother her, but he’d really like it if the icy wall that stands between them melts!

Carefully, he steps out. Does she have club today? Wait, why would she… since it’s after the point where the third years are done..? Unless she’s staying to help the underclassmen… She’s amazing! Standing out in everything that she pours her heart into, the grace she moves by, the smile that becomes the gift of her everyday life… His head’s so full of fluffy that he’s either forgetting the specifics, or waiting for a chance to rattle them out with speed.

She’s embracing her youth, huh? No wonder she won Rose Queen, no wonder she’s motivated all around her to work harder, no wonder he…  _Wait_ , how was he allowed to play the prince to her princess status, even once? He’s so…

..not fit to her.

But, for that moment, he felt more like it was  _his_  Cinderella story. He wished time would freeze right there, but it had been inevitable, that the clock would strike midnight, that he isn’t supposed to be her prince.

“Taira-kun?” her voice cuts through his thoughts and his ficus goes immediately on her. She called… out to him! And she’s still speaking! “You didn’t wait too long, did you?”

“Ah, n-no! Not at all!”

Thank goodness his scarf is covering just how red his face is! But…  _h-huh?_  She’s asking about if he waited too long, did she know he was waiting for her? Did she pick him over her friends? Actually, stay cool!

_ She’s so bright… _

Why wouldn’t he think that, and just go with her call to walk home together when she offers? Him… Out of all the others… maybe this is his Christmas present? If that’s the case, then he’s really lucky, isn’t he?

Yet again he’s frozen in place, trying to figure out something else to say to her. How lame walking in silence would be! But, that’s exactly what their walk begins as, simple, quiet, he can hear his footsteps – are they messing up her rhythm? Is his breathing too loud? He really didn’t think this could happen, not now, like this.

Perhaps he really will manage to get it together, and see if he can confess to her on graduation day, in the church, if she ends up going there too. It might be getting too far ahead, she may have someone else in her heart, and she’s just walking with him because they’re all busy but he, he can hope. He wants to let himself hope.

That the ice will melt and reveal that, somehow, he’s free to stand alongside these shining people, that somehow, he’s cut out for romance, for this heart-throbbing fluff, and pain.  _This_ really has been what has changed the pace of his high school life (or, actually, it’s probably yet another normal thing, having a crush on a cute classmate). Does she see how great she is? Or does she consider herself to be yet another student, just trying to push along?

He’s surprised himself by not running away, considering how embarrassed he was for smudging upon her image, after she won Rose Queen, but his feet won’t let him leave fast enough. And she, she… just linked arms with him?

“It’s really cold, isn’t it?” She smiles, laughter dancing in her voice. Sparkles seem to surround her and Taira is blinded.

“Ye-Yeah, winter’s here, for sure.”

_Smooth_ …

“Mmhmm, but that means winter break is almost here! It’ll be the last one for our high school lives…” She trails off. Is that a hint of nostalgia, of wishing it wouldn’t yet end, “I really don’t regret any of this, Taira-kun.”

“M-Me…”

“Hmm?”

He doesn’t know what to say, or what to offer her. If she’s that cold, should he take off his scarf, or share it with her? Should he say that he doesn’t have any regrets either? How can he phrase it, to avoid saying it’s because of her – and is it really true? No, it can’t be, considering everything that’s happened, how close he’s been, but how far away everything has felt.

“I-I…”

“Oh, it’s you!”

“Imagine that.”

Hearing the two new voices, Taira blinks, following her gaze to who she’s now waving at with her freehand, but mere seconds would have explained it, even if he didn’t look.

“Ruka-kun! Kou-kun!”

_The Sakurai brothers_. It’s really, really exciting that he gets to know them, because she’s good friends with them, but the timing isn’t all that great!  _Ah-ha_ , he feels everything icing over. His opportunity to say anything more, maybe stopping for tea.  _Wait_. His face is red, she’s locked arms with him, the only conclusion anyone can draw from this is..?!  _Dating?_! Yet another step off, but even if his heart would soar if something like that comes true, it’s not time yet!

Out of the shadows and into the spotlight, suddenly he’s known to the  _other_  lights in the school. Well, good luck, Taira!


End file.
